He's Not Unfortunate... He's An Idiot

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: “He’s Not Unfortunate… He’s An Idiot”

Date: October 2, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into several high-profile current events and social issues, including the decay and disorder in Portland, Oregon; the evolving war in Ukraine and its international ramifications; the latest allegations from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal; and ongoing threats from radical Islam in the West. The hosts mix reporting, personal anecdotes, and their trademark sardonic wit to explore why certain realities are willfully ignored in American society, how decisions (bad and good) determine outcomes, and the dangers of ideological bubbles.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Chaos and Disorder in Portland & West Coast Cities

• [00:55–12:59]
  • Trump sends the National Guard to Portland amid ongoing Antifa-driven chaos ("death and destruction").
  • Media bias: Both mainstream and conservative media have been slow or inattentive to sustained unrest in Portland.
    • Jack Armstrong [01:27]: “They completely missed the nightly antifa riots in Portland, went on for hundreds of days and nobody was talking about it at the time.”
  • Contrasts between Portland’s ongoing dysfunction and San Francisco’s alleged turnaround.
    • Hosts stress San Francisco has improved, largely due to changes in city leadership and policies that echoed what conservatives had advocated.
    • [04:37] Co-host: “San Francisco has turned itself around by embracing the very policies we've been howling for.”
    • Discussion of homelessness and drug use as omnipresent and intertwined issues, with reference to open-air drug markets, high crime, and tent encampments.
  • The disconnect between affluent citizens and the urban decay surrounding them.
    • Jack Armstrong [06:43]: “Any effort to claim that the city wasn’t taken over by, you know, street drug addicts, you’re just…combination of lying and denial.”
  • Large retailers (Walmart, Target, Starbucks) are abandoning Portland due to theft and crime.
    • Calls for businesses to be transparent about why they’re leaving.
    • Jack Armstrong [08:06]: “If you're closing down because there's too many drug addicts around to do business, please say it out loud.”
  • Analysis of why wealthier residents and political leaders ignore or downplay urban problems.
    • Jack Armstrong [11:10]: “How do you just ignore that reality as opposed to…complain about it or want to do something because it just doesn’t fit your worldview?”
    • They posit psychological denial and social pressure as explanations.
  • Strong critique of mainstream progressive views on homelessness and crime.
    • Discussed as “unbelievable levels of blindness” and “a string of inane opinions.”

2. Decision-Making and Consequences: The ‘Idiots’ Among Us

• [15:14–18:53]
  • Viral news story: A New York man arrested for stealing a tow truck trying to repossess his own truck.
  • Used as an example of poor long-term thinking and self-defeating behavior.
    • Jack Armstrong [15:50]: “That was a good plan. That was a good…you’re thinking long term, that’s a really good plan. I mean, because it’s likely to work out. Everything’s gonna work out the way you want.”
  • Jack recounts a personal anecdote about a DJ coworker with a sketchy past who had his car repossessed.
  • Moral: People often aren’t simply “unfortunate”—there are real behavioral and cognitive roots to repeated bad outcomes.
    • Co-host [18:45]: “This guy is who he is because he’s made so many bad decisions. He’s not unfortunate. He’s an idiot.”

3. Expanding the War in Ukraine & World Implications

• [20:00–22:53]
  • Breaking Wall Street Journal story: The US is greenlighting intelligence sharing for Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure.
    • Seen as a significant escalation in both practical and symbolic terms, drawing NATO deeper into the conflict.
    • Potentially brings NATO and Russia closer to direct confrontation, with significant risks.
    • Jack Armstrong [22:35]: “This war could get a lot more hot really fast.”
  • Discussion of Russia’s latest mass conscription and economic woes, including the halting of oil exports—a sign of mounting pressure on Putin’s regime.

4. Epstein Revelations and Blackmail as a Tool of the Rich & Infamous

• [23:29–33:32]
  • Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick goes on-the-record saying Epstein was “the greatest blackmailer ever” and suggests Epstein traded incriminating video of powerful men for his 2008 plea deal.
    • Lutnick recounted an uncomfortable tour of Epstein’s house and the nature of Epstein’s “massage room.”
    • Commerce Sec. Lutnick (paraphrased by Armstrong) [25:24]: “Epstein says, every day. And then he gets like weirdly close to me and says, and the right kind of massage.”
    • Lutnick and his wife immediately decided never to see Epstein again.
    • Lutnick claims high-profile men like Bill Gates and Prince Andrew “participated” rather than merely witnessed—raising direct allegations of complicity.
    • Jack Armstrong [26:55]: “The current commerce Secretary says, ‘cuz he had all these powerful people, he videoed them getting happy ending massages and blackmailed them for cash. And that’s how he got out of the legal trouble.”
  • The hosts debate the mechanics and risks of blackmail, including real-world and personal examples, and the notion of “reverse blackmail” via NDAs.
    • Suggests many powerful people may have kept paying because “it would never end” if they didn’t.
    • Co-host [31:17]: “I'll bet Epstein had a bunch of powerful people, and he had. It was probably charities. You know, I've got these non profits. I'd like you to donate this much per month forever, to my nonprofit. That sort of thing.”

5. Radical Islam, Political Blindness, and Western Security

• [35:00–39:09]
  • The hosts raise alarm over ongoing and under-reported violence by radical Islamists in Europe—recently in Germany and Britain.
  • Criticize Western leaders’ (and especially Democrats’) willingness to downplay these issues for political gain, even as radical groups gain footing in US communities.
    • Specific event: Prominent Democrats to speak at Arab-American event organized by group with undisguised Hamas supporters.
    • Warnings about slow, “frog in boiling water” erosion of Western liberties.
    • Co-host [38:57]: “That’s the way radical Islam takes over Western democracies bit by bit, slowly, through elections and pressure on politicians.”
    • Reference to the novel Submission as a cautionary tale.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Portland’s denial:
  “Any effort to claim that the city wasn’t taken over by, you know, street drug addicts, you’re just…it’s a combination of lying and denial and I don’t even know what it would be from a psychological standpoint.” — Jack Armstrong [06:43]

• On business closures:
  “If you're closing down because there's too many drug addicts around to do business, please say it out loud. Just say it out loud.” — Jack Armstrong [08:06]

• On decision-making:
  “He’s not unfortunate. He’s an idiot.” — Co-host [18:45]

• On elite blindness:
  “People are more likely to believe something completely ridiculous than admit that, you know what my precepts were wrong. You know, I've been wrong all along about this stuff.” — Co-host [12:12]

• Epstein revelations:
  “This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever. Blackmailed people. That’s how he made his money.” — Paraphrasing Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick [26:34]

• On blackmail psychology:
  “My advice to them was, look, they’re just going to call you up in a week and say, I need $2,000 more or I'm going to the cops. It'll never end. But I was wrong in this case.” — Jack Armstrong [30:38]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:55–12:59 — Portland/West Coast decay, media responses, homelessness, and urban denial
• 15:14–18:53 — Bad decisions, tow truck theft story, anecdotes on personal responsibility
• 20:00–22:53 — US intelligence support for Ukrainian strikes inside Russia, escalation considerations
• 23:29–33:32 — Epstein blackmail revelations, blackmail mechanics, real-world stories
• 35:00–39:09 — Radical Islam in the West, under-reported attacks, political opportunism

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Tone & Style

• Engaged, irreverent, and direct.
• Willing to challenge conventional media narratives and point out hypocrisy or denial.
• Mixes dry humor, pointed sarcasm, and direct skepticism (“God, you’re nuts.” [13:23]).
• Conversational yet fact-focused, with anecdotes used as illustrative tools.

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For Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In

This episode offers a hard-hitting examination of several current crises—from social disorder in American cities to global security threats—using both journalistic sources and lived experiences. The Armstrong & Getty approach is both unflinching and entertaining, applying their critical framework to media narratives, elite behavior, and the personal decisions that shape outcomes, all filtered through their signature brand of skepticism and humor.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty. So let's go to Oregon where there's chaos burning the streets. Antifa radical left anarchists are causing chaos in that city. So Donald Trump is sending in the National Guard now to end, he says, quote, the chaos, death and destruction. This is what he wrote on Truth Social. We will never allow mobs to take over our streets, burn our cities or destroy America. The National Guard is now in place and has been dedicated to restoring law and order and ending the chaos, death and destruction. We are a nation of law and we will prevail. So that's from Fox and Friends this morning. It's about Trump sending the National Guard into Portland. And for mainstream media and for a lot of America, it seems to come out of nowhere. The National Guard in Portland. Why Portland? And I've never quite understood why. I mean, we're a big country and it's 3,000 miles coast to coast and almost entirely the media is centered in New York City. But is it really that hard to have a grip on what's happening on the other side of the United States? Apparently it is because as Joe and I complained about a lot back in the day, they completely missed the nightly antifa riots in Portland, went on for hundreds of days and nobody was talking about it at the time.

[Co-host/Producer]

And what's really interesting to your point, slash theory. Because I mean, obviously bias plays a big role in it, but even conservative media is asleep at the switch on a lot of this stuff, which is hard to. Hard to explain.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, Generally that's why I bring you this. David Marcus writing for Fox News Opinion and he's writing this like it's news to people. Well, it is news to him and to a lot of you around the country. I guess it's not news to any of the U.S. on the west coast who have been to Portland or San Francisco or LA or Seattle over the last several years. Now I'm going to read a little bit from his piece. His, his comments about San Francisco are inaccurate. Now I think that's interesting. Here you got a Fox News reporter talking about what Portland like now and he's completely unaware of the fact that San Francisco has turned it around. I have been reporting that as a guy who goes into San Francisco regularly that it's completely different in the nice areas of San Francisco now than it was a year ago. I mean, they have really turned it around with the new mayor and everything like that. But it used to look like the way he's going to describe Portland here. This city is in the national spotlight this week because of the violent antics of Antifa with their attacks on the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center after President Trump's plan to send in federal law enforcement. Maybe you don't know that because a lot of mainstream outlets aren't reporting that the federal agencies, agents and buildings have been attacked regularly like for like 100 straight days in Portland.

[Co-host/Producer]

Right. But there are plenty of just nice civilian people who are secretaries and janitors and stuff in those buildings and they're terrified.

[Jack Armstrong]

Here's the writing of David Marcus of Fox who went to Portland this week. On Monday morning, downtown Portland is a ghost town by the standards of most major American cities. There are basically only two types of people walking around. Those who have a lot of money and those who have none. This is very much a West coast phenomenon, similar in many ways to the mess that San Francisco is in. My aside being that hey David, go to San Francisco. It ain't like that anymore. I don't know why it matters so much if you're a big city on the East Coast. But we don't, we don't consider it part of America if you're on the West Coast. But anyway, I mean, especially because from.

[Co-host/Producer]

A conservative point of view, San Francisco has turned itself around by embracing the very policies we've been howling for.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it's a good Fox story. It's a good story for anybody. Actually. Even liberals got fed up enough that they were willing to try something different. And hey, it worked. Anyway, back to Portland. In Portland, it is normal to turn a corner off a block of high end shopping and walk into a row of homeless tents. The smell of human waste and burning drugs commingled. Yes, in case you've never Experienced this, you could be next to a. Well not that long ago in San Francisco you could walk out of Saks Fifth Avenue, which was locked by the way with an armed guard out front of it, and walk just a few feet and you got homeless tents and you're scared to be there. And it's just amazing. You can't imagine it in most places. I'll skip past this drug addict bumming a cigarette from him. There are homeless people sprinkled around the center and cities. I mean, start again and slow down. There are homeless people sprinkled around center city Philadelphia for example. But you have to go looking for the pure human misery that is Kensington, Philadelphia. In Portland it is omnipresent.

[Co-host/Producer]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And that's the way it is in Seattle and LA and was in San Francisco until very recently.

[Co-host/Producer]

And I'll never win this fight. But call them transient drug addicts. That's what they are.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely. The people of Portland and the media want to put out pictures of Portland, of lovely brunches or a pretty storefront on social media, say look, it's fine here, but it's not, uh. They talks about statements by various politicians in the Portland area. Extremely privileged and progressive members of Portland. The rich put out these social media posts and they live in a bubbled area in which this just isn't as true. That is not exactly accurate. As I pointed out for a long time just did that in San Francisco. It was the nicest hotels and the nicest stores. You had this sort of stuff. So any effort to claim that the city wasn't take over by, you know, street drug addicts, you're just. It's a combination of lying and denial and I don't even know what it would be from a psychological standpoint.

[Co-host/Producer]

Right. Well and it's unbelievable levels of blindness too because the New York Post has a story about the antifa violence and they point out that this one gal who is a disabled black woman living in a low income subsidized apartment near the ICE facility says she hasn't slept in days because there's so much yelling and violence and bullhorns and the rest of it she said is miserable and she's the sort of person on the claims to care about.

[Jack Armstrong]

Back to this article. It's not just the homeless that Portlanders have grown accustomed to. At the local CVS, which looked like something out of the Soviet Union, 90% of the stock was behind lock and key. Not just razors and deodorant, but bags of chips too. I asked the armed security Guard if he stops a lot of theft, he said, look around, there's nothing anyone can steal. I'm mostly here for the crazies or violent people that might come in.

[Co-host/Producer]

And if you're just tuning in. We reported earlier that Walmart has closed its last two stores in Portland, following Target out the door. By the way, Walmart has a dozen stores right outside Portland in the suburbs. But it's just too dangerous and thefty to operate within the city. Well done.

[Jack Armstrong]

And hey, Walmart, hey, convenience stores, restaurants, any store, Walgreens. If you're closing down because there's too many drug addicts around to do business, please say it out loud. Just say it out loud. We have to. There's too much theft and it's too dangerous and we can't get anybody to work here. That's why we're closing down. I don't know why they're scared to say that. I, I guess they feel like they'll be attacked by the left for blaming the victim or something. I don't know.

[Co-host/Producer]

I wonder. It's got to be something like that because Walmart put out a statement that was like Kamala Harris wrote it. I mean, it was just a rambling mess.

[Jack Armstrong]

Starbucks always does, but you know, they're a lefty organization, top to bottom, but they never want to say out loud why they're closing their stores. The crystal clear message that this sends to the citizenry of Portland is that they live surrounded by thieves who cannot be trusted. So they should go to the protection of fancy restaurants or their high rise apartments. Let the streets be the streets and just hide where you live. And then he said, this is where Antifa comes back into the story. Why does Antifa feel empowered to simply take over square blocks of Portland as it has and harass whomever they want to? In New York City or Philadelphia, the police would eventually shut it down. Where I live in West Virginia, it wouldn't last 10 minutes, he writes. In Portland, it happens everywhere, all the time. The obvious answer is that the city doesn't stop them. Just as the city does nothing to clean up the vagrancy and open drug use. It is a total surrender as day by day people die in the streets beneath the beautiful pine trees overlooking. Overlooking what should be a wonderful city. The wealthy here just don't seem to care much if people have needles sticking out of their arms or Fantifa is assaulting journalists. That's the part I don't get. And, and as we learned with San Francisco, there is a limit, apparently. But why for all those years, do people who you, you obviously are well to do you live in one of the most expensive places in the world, but you pretend that this isn't happening around you because I guess you feel like you'd, well again be blaming the victim of that would make you right wing or a conservative or something if you said it out loud. What is right in front of your face every single day?

[Co-host/Producer]

I just think it goes back to the Barton Swaim piece about how a lot of the justification for left wing violence is right out of the mainstream left left, whereas the excuses for right wing political violence are like wackadoodles who believe something no conservative does. And, and the idea that, well, and these people are in such media bubbles, as we've discussed many times, conservatives are surrounded by progressives telling them their point of view. I can tell you what their arguments are quite accurately and in detail. They have no idea what our arguments are. So you got the self congratulatory, ultra lefty people in Portland who have never heard an alternative opinion and they think Trump's an actual fascist and antifa is actually fighting against fascists and not that they're violent, alienated, Marxist jackasses asses. They just don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

I was just thinking, do I do it seems like it's a human nature thing to a certain extent. So like, are there realities that I ignore because it would bump up against my political views? But if you're walking out of your apartment in your expense, way too expensive apartment in Portland or San Francisco or Seattle or LA or wherever you are, and there's human poop on the sidewalk, something that didn't used to be a thing at all anywhere in the country. I mean it was just like it was unheard of and now it's regular. And you know, there's what they used to call San Francisco snow on the street from all the windows shattered in cars overnight because stealing is rampant and all your favorite stores have closed and there's an armed guard in front of the store you want to go into with a gun that unlocks the door and lets you in. How do you just ignore that reality as opposed to, you know, complain about it or want to do something about it because it just doesn't fit your worldview.

[Co-host/Producer]

Yeah, exactly. People are more likely to believe something completely ridiculous than admit that, you know what my precepts were wrong. You know, I've been wrong all along about this stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

That reminds me, I was in a store in Los Angeles with a woman and is a store where they had it's a common thing. You put all the most stealable stuff in a center section and then you have one way you can walk into it, it's like a little corridor and then you have a guard there so that anything that's an easier way than locking it up you just put it all in one section. Anyway, this person suggested to me look at it's the stuff that they need the most like stuff to stay clean and brush their teeth and everything like that that they're keeping away from these people. Like that's your reaction to this?

[Co-host/Producer]

And they believe that these camps full of transient drug addicts are people who are just priced out of the rental market.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Co-host/Producer]

And are other areas otherwise good hard working people who need toothpaste and mean.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right winger capitalist type people are specifically hiding and putting a guard in front of deodorant and toothpaste because you want these people to be stinky and have bad teeth.

[Co-host/Producer]

Right. And if we can institute rent control then rents will drop.

[Jack Armstrong]

God you're nuts.

[Co-host/Producer]

And yeah, it's a string of inane opinions but they're pretty mainstream.

[Jack Armstrong]

Glad Fox center reported to Portland to report on something that has been true for a very very long time. Send another reporter to San Francisco so you can see that things turned around a lot with different policies. Any comment on this text line? 415295KFTC Portlandia, Scrumlin, Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Put the truck there. Get away from this truck.

[Co-host/Producer]

Audio from a truck? That's crazy. Call the viral video.

[Joe Getty]

The adrenaline was going.

[Jack Armstrong]

It happened.

[Co-host/Producer]

A 56 year old new York man was arrested on Grand Larceny charges they were trying to repo his truck, which he wasn't making payments on. And he leapt into. Well, first he violently shoved down the. The tow truck driver, then jumped into the tow truck and stole it with his truck. His pickup truck, not quite all the way attached. Leaving a wake of destruction and auto parts in the street.

[Jack Armstrong]

Evidently, that was a good plan. That was a good. You're thinking long term, that's a really good plan. I mean, because it's likely to work out. Everything's gonna work out the way you want. You're gonna drive off in the tow truck, then, like, keep your car and not get arrested for stealing. Everything's gonna work out fine. Again, it's just plain a good plan.

[Co-host/Producer]

And the bank will see the injustice of demanding that you make payments. So their. Their towing is 2020 Chevy Silverado. The rear wheels were being attached to the tow truck's arm. And he runs out. Get the f out of here. Put the truck down. I'm warning you. MFer. Then he shoves the. The driver down, threatening to punch him f him. Nobody's taking this truck from me. He says as he pulls away. It's with the tow truck.

[Jack Armstrong]

I knew somebody who did repos for cars, and he said it was incredibly dangerous. They had to fight all the time. That's nuts. You're gonna fight the person again. Good. Long term thinking, I wonder how you ended up in a financial situation where you can't make your car payment. With that kind of brilliant long term thinking, I'll fight the guy. And then, like Joe said. And the bank will decide. You know what? We are treating him unfairly, expecting him to make these payments.

[Co-host/Producer]

He's really committed to owning that truck. Why? He beat a man down and smashed up 15 other vehicles. We should let him keep his tr. Yeah. So anyway, court records show that Mr. Leosa had. I said, said his name. 56 year old Russell Leosa. This guy's 56 and he's pulling this stuff?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you're a little old for that kind of decision.

[Co-host/Producer]

Let's see, where was it? Ah. Court records show that Leosa has been involved in a variety of legal actions. Bankruptcy, foreclosure, unpaid bills, motor vehicle torts. And he also has a couple of prior arrests. According to New York city police, uh, he was sued in 2020 for posting false, unprivileged, and defamatory statements on Facebook, accusing a neighborhood man of being a pedophile and predator because the guy was having an affair with Leos's estranged wife.

[Jack Armstrong]

Mm. Okay.

[Co-host/Producer]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

The thought plickens.

[Co-host/Producer]

Yeah. Yeah. But oddly enough, he blamed the plaintiff for the breakup of his marriage and oddly, claimed that as a former lawman, the other man, quote, understood that sexual intercourse with another man's wife is a crime and punishable with imp.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. Did I ever tell the story about the disc jockey I worked with who got his car repossessed? We were all watching out the window while it happened. That was so entertaining.

[Co-host/Producer]

I think you have. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wonder whatever happened to him. His name was the Orphan. Nobody ever knew what his real name was. And then as his past became sketchier and people realized it wasn't just he had a DJ name, he had a. He had an alias. He was trying to hide his name. But we were all, he got his car repossessed. We're all standing in the radio station looking out the window, and the thing shows up and pulls it away. His. His girlfriend he showed up with when he came to town disappeared with another dude. She was wearing a fur coat. I don't know what was going on with the orphan. Very complicated story.

[Co-host/Producer]

Well, and you've said this a million times, this guy is who he is because he's made so many bad decisions. He's not unfortunate. He's an idiot.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, man. There's some pretty big news around Epstein and Ukraine, so stay tuned. Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Maxwell House Coffee is changing its name for the first time in more than 130 years. The coffee giant temporarily rebranding as Maxwell Apartment. The company says it's making the switch to reflect the number of Americans now renting. Instead of buying homes and they say to remind consumers that the coffee is affordable. That sounds like he got pranked. That can't be real, right?

[Co-host/Producer]

I think they were trying to remind Americans that the coffee exists. When was the last time you heard a Maxwell House reference?

[Jack Armstrong]

Find that hard to believe. I also don't believe the landlines are coming back story. Maybe we should talk about that later. I don't, I don't believe it's actually happening. But two things that are happening that are super interesting. First, this is from the Wall Street Journal. An exclusive from the Wall Street Journal. The United States is going to provide Ukraine with intelligence for long range missile strikes on Russia's energy infrastructure. This is the first time that Biden or Trump has said, yeah, we're going to help you shoot deep into Russia and try to take out their energy infrastructure. This is a pretty big deal. That's according to American officials and the Trump administration who is weighing right now sending Keev even more powerful weapons that could put in range more targets within Russia. Trump recently signed off on allowing intelligence agencies and the Pentagon to aid Kiev with the strikes. US Officials are asking the NATO allies to provide similar support. The expanded intelligence sharing with Kiev is the latest sign that Trump is deepening support for Ukraine as the peace talks have clearly stalled. It's the first time that Trump will aid Ukrainian strikes with long range missiles against energy targets deep inside Russia. This is, I'm not worried about World War 3 starting out of this or anything like that, but I mean this is getting closer to a full on NATO US vs Russia sort of situation. Definitely. Yeah.

[Co-host/Producer]

I came across super interesting piece talking about how NATO abandoned what they called active defense. And you know, maybe someday we can get into it, but in favor of a much more robust counterattack strategy specifically, and here's why I bring it up, you've got to be able to attack your enemy's supply lines. You can't just fight them at the front and wait for help to come and good things to happen. You have to attack their supply lines and their supply depots and their energy infrastructure. That's how you weaken the front line. And so Ukraine's been wanting to do that for a very long time, but they've been held back. So now they're going to do be able to do what is obvious in terms of successful warfare.

[Jack Armstrong]

So Russia had the biggest call up draft conscripting soldiers that they've had since 2016. And NATO and the United States, Ukraine are going to go after their energy infrastructure. This, this war could get a lot more hot really fast.

[Co-host/Producer]

Well, and hot in a lot of different ways because the Russian economy is really struggling. They have serious problems right now. Their main source of income is oil exports. And they banned any more oil exports exports through the rest of the year because they need it domestically. And then the call up. Do you remember how many guys got called up as a huge number of humans? I can't remember, but that's not gonna sit well. I mean, how many call ups have they had? And emptying out the prisons and giving giant bonuses and like dragging North Koreans into the fray? And now they've gone back to the well again.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, they're losing 7,000 guys a week, killed and wounded. I mean, that's just a stunning number. Anyway, that's that situation. This is more fun or weird. This is from the New York Post, but it's actually happened. New York Post. Miranda Devine, who we've had on the air before, good reporter, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was on her podcast yesterday and in a notable break with the Department of Justice, claimed that pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was the greatest blackmailer ever. He knew him. Howard Lutnick, current Commerce Secretary, knew Epstein and said Epstein was the greatest black mailer ever and probably traded the Fed's video of rich and well connected associates getting massages from young women in exchange for his 2008 plea deal down there in Florida, where he got off that plea deal that nobody's ever been able to understand, where he was dead to rights, guilty of all kinds of different things, and he got a really sweetheart deal and was back out in the public, continuing to do his thing. So a current secretary in Trump's cabinet thinks that Epstein had videos that he used to blackmail people to get out of that. I go on. Lut Lick made the shocking allegations yesterday on Pod Force One, a podcast that comes out today. The Cabinet secretary said that Epstein himself showed him the notorious massage room while giving Litnick and his wife a tour of the famous townhouse after the couple had moved in next door back in 2005. So Letnick's getting a tour of Epstein's super rich famous house. I say to him, massage table in the middle of your house. Often do you have a massage? Which is a damn good question.

[Co-host/Producer]

I mean, as often as I want.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, how important are massages to you that you put the massage table right in the middle of your home? It's just.

[Co-host/Producer]

Was it a little room, though? I don't, I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

I say to a massage table in the middle of your house, how Often do you have a massage? And Epstein says, every day. And then he gets like weirdly close to me and says, and the right kind of massage. All right. Lutnick said he and his wife quickly excused themselves and left Epstein's home. And in the six to eight steps it takes me to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that we'll never be in a room with that disgusting person ever again.

[Co-host/Producer]

Wow. Trump has got to be slapping his head.

[Jack Armstrong]

When asked by Divine whether Epstein's rich and powerful associates, including the likes of Prince Andrew and Bill Gates, could hang around him and not see what you saw. Or did they see it and ignore it? Lutnick responded, they participated. He said this yesterday on a podcast.

[Co-host/Producer]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Current secretary.

[Co-host/Producer]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

They get a massage. And that's what his M.O. was. Get a massage. Get a massage. And what happened in that massage room, I assume was on video? The commerce Secretary said this guy was the greatest blackmailer ever. Blackmailed people. That's how he made his money. So the.

[Co-host/Producer]

Well, this is a new chapter, I'd say.

[Jack Armstrong]

So the how the whole. How did he get so rich? How did he get the sweetheart deal when he got caught in Florida? The current commerce Secretary says, cuz he had all these powerful people, he videoed them getting happy ending massages.

[Co-host/Producer]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

And blackmailed him for cash. And that's how he got out of the legal trouble.

[Co-host/Producer]

Wow. That's a heck of a thing to say. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. I'd always just assumed that it was a super rich, popular guy getting the wink and nod in a place in America where super rich, powerful guys can do anything they want. But heck, I don't know. Maybe he's right. All I know is Cash Patel, Dan Bongino, and the President and the Vice President are all slapping their foreheads. Oh, my God, Howard. Oh, my God. The story was over. Settled down.

[Jack Armstrong]

The story was over. Nobody was talking about Epstein again. That's a heck of a thing for him to say out loud as a current part of the Trump administration.

[Co-host/Producer]

Yeah, it's amazing. Miranda Devine is she. She speaks with a tongue dipped in sarcasm, but she's very accurate and serious.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, let me throw you this question. Do you think I'll use a particular. Do you think Bill Gates got happy ending massages at. Massages at Epstein's place and then when. And then Epstein strong armed him and he actually like, gave him money.

[Co-host/Producer]

I have no idea. Obviously it's not inconceivable.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Co-host/Producer]

If it was a blackmail ring, a Blackmail racket. If that's what he. If that was his method, I could see that working, at least for a while.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, he was ungodly wealthy, and nobody can quite figure out how he got that wealthy.

[Co-host/Producer]

Mm. Right. Although, you know, maybe it's just me, and maybe this is big talk, but I've always thought if anybody tried to blackmail me, I would go to whatever party would be offended, my wife or my employer or whatever, and say, hey, here's what. What's happening. I'm going to the cops. Yes, I did get a happy ending in a massage. I'm not proud of it, and I'm sure you're angry with me, but I'm not going to let a blackmailer blackmail me, so I'm going to the cops.

[Jack Armstrong]

The David Letterman routine, that's what he did.

[Co-host/Producer]

Maybe it's because I've done so many stupid things in my life, I'm fairly comfortable admitting to it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I think the thing that you're just recognizing that David Letterman recognized, if you don't know that story, he was having an affair. And then the person threatened to come forward with it, wanted money, Was it whatever they wanted?

[Co-host/Producer]

And there was a weird wrinkle involving a screenplay, but it doesn't matter.

[Jack Armstrong]

He just went on the air that night and said, look, I was having an affair, and they're trying to extort me. And so I'm just letting you know right now. And he. And he's talked about it a lot since. Obviously, it made his marriage very, very difficult. They're still together. They had a kid. Glad they survived it. But he just thought, well, this will never end if I go down that road, which usually is the case. That's one of the reasons I would think that, no, these rich people, powerful people, weren't doing that. But, you know, maybe Epstein just kept them on a string, strung them along, kept money coming in on a regular basis.

[Co-host/Producer]

Yeah, that's the source of my skepticism. At no point did somebody think I'm well known for getting erotic massages or, you know, or. Or escorts or whatever, or dating models. Nobody gives a crap if I got a handy. I'm calling them on this.

[Jack Armstrong]

I know.

[Co-host/Producer]

Never happened.

[Jack Armstrong]

I know somebody personally who paid an extorter.

[Co-host/Producer]

Wow. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

I probably shouldn't even tell the story, but something had happened. They were in the wrong. And this person said, I won't go to the cops if. If you give me. I forget how much. It was like $10,000. And they did. And my. Hold on. I'm going to see. Oh, I got the COVID 9A. Anyway, they. They gave him the $10,000. And my advice to them was, look, they're just going to call you up in a week and say, I need 2,000 more or I'm going to the cops. It'll never end. But I was wrong in this case. They never came back to him. And it. That was. Geez, 20 years ago.

[Co-host/Producer]

But happy ending.

[Jack Armstrong]

Usually. That's what happens, though, isn't it?

[Co-host/Producer]

Often. Often. I don't know that much about extortion, but, yeah, that's one of the risks of going along with it.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's nothing stopping them from. From touching you up again.

[Co-host/Producer]

Payment plan, like a subscription. You forget you have it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'll bet Epstein had a bunch of powerful people, and he had. It was probably charities. You know, I've got these non profits. I'd like you to donate this much per month forever, to my nonprofit. That sort of thing.

[Co-host/Producer]

Yeah, it's not impossible. Seems like a bit of a stretch.

[Jack Armstrong]

We got the massage room right in the middle of the house.

[Co-host/Producer]

See, that's prejudicial number one. You never get massages. So it seems odd to you? If I had room to have, like, a physical therapy room in my house that included massage and stuff, and I didn't have to go somewhere, I would do that in a minute.

[Jack Armstrong]

Would you have cameras there so you could record your friends?

[Co-host/Producer]

Of course I would. No, of course not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Would you sidle up to someone in.

[Co-host/Producer]

The middle of my house? What if it was at the edge of my house? You keep using that phrase like it's an indictment. Don't be. As a BSR wouldn't me.

[Jack Armstrong]

I didn't. It wasn't me taking a tour of Epstein's house.

[Co-host/Producer]

You've repeated it more than once.

[Jack Armstrong]

Words.

[Co-host/Producer]

I'm using the middle of his house, the geographic center. It was amazing. It was nowhere near the outer wall.

[Jack Armstrong]

Would you sidle up next to somebody you don't know who just moved in next door to you, and would you say, yeah, the right kind of massage?

[Co-host/Producer]

Well, I wouldn't sidle up to anybody and say that for obvious reasons, but, yeah, that's weird damn behavior. 100%.

[Jack Armstrong]

You just move into a neighborhood. Oh, you have a massage table right in the middle of your house. I've never seen that before. Yeah, the right kind of massages. What?

[Co-host/Producer]

Okay. Welcome to the neighborhood. Oh, boy.

[Jack Armstrong]

No wonder he said to his wife, we're not going back over there.

[Co-host/Producer]

Have you ever been blackmailed? [e-mail] Drop us note we'll keep everything anonymous. Obviously. [e-mail] that's a good one.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a good one. But we have people that have been blackmailed. How did it turn out? Did they come back for more?

[Co-host/Producer]

How about the non disclosure agreement with a big fat payment? That's like the other side of the blackmail coin. That's the interesting part of those laws to me if I go to you like preemptively and say look, I saw you saw me with the underage masseuse and all. I tell you what, here's 50k. I need you to sign this form. That's like reverse blackmail, but that's completely illegal.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you're right. It is blackmail. Interesting. I look forward to seeing those emails. A lot more on the way. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

We throw out the question have you ever blackmail? Been blackmailed. And we'll see if we get any emails on that. But somebody texted Better question. Have you ever blackmailed someone? Well, Joe and I have not, no.

[Co-host/Producer]

But admit a crime to us and send us your email.

[Jack Armstrong]

We'll see if we get any emails on that.

[Co-host/Producer]

Right? So you know how sometimes there are. Do you know your news quizzes that news outlets will do. Here's your here's your ang Knowledge quiz. What am I always saying is the biggest story in the world that nobody talks about right now? These days? Radical Islam versus Western civilization. People act like 911 was a bit of a blip, but now it's gone. Ignoring the tens of thousands of Christians being killed in Africa, for instance. Oh, German Authorities arrested three men on Wednesday they believed were affiliated with Hamas and suspected of planning attacks targeting Israeli and Jewish institutions. According to German prosecutors. The suspects, two German nationals and one Lebanese born individual, were arrested in Berlin. They had all sorts of weapons and explosives. Separately, Munich's Oktoberfest was temporarily closed for several hours on Wednesday after an unrelated bomb threat linked to a domestic dispute. They thought at first and then this terrible story out of Britain that. Oh, I thought you sent that to the whole group. Hanson. There was an attack in Britain on Jewish folks timed to the big Jewish holiday that killed a couple and wounded several more by Islamists today in the last 24 hours. Yeah, just terrible.

[Jack Armstrong]

That, you know, speaks to what we were talking about yesterday. If you didn't hear it, get the podcast. I guess the woman who was a committed suicide bomber and disappointed that she was not successful after she was jailed and treated for medical reasons by the Israelis and everything like that, she didn't change her mind because she was a committed Jews must die I am going to go to paradise if I kill them and die in the cause sort of person. And I guess that's what these jihadists are. They believe. They actually believe it. They're going to go to paradise. And Jews are evil. So it's a good expenditure of your life to take out Jews.

[Co-host/Producer]

Yeah. And gosh, there was a.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is nuts. It's absolutely completely freaking nuts.

[Co-host/Producer]

There is a big event going on. Is it now or just happened? I'm not sure but it's this big American Arab Discrimination Committee is the organization holds Arab con in Dearborn, Michigan, a town it's a majority Muslim town dubbed America's Jihad Capital by some because so many of its city and religious leaders have sided with Hamas against the US and Israel. And three rising stars in Democratic politics, Michigan Senate candidate and former CNN contributor Abdul El Sayed, Representative Ro Khan of California and Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist are all listed as speakers even though this organization that puts it on. And several of the other speakers are absolutely undisguised supporters of Hamas and radical Islamic.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now I wonder if it's just Dearborn proper. The Dearborn Metro area is 4 million people. Well, that includes Detroit. But Dearborn itself, just the suburb, is Muslim majority.

[Co-host/Producer]

Yeah, that's what the Free Beacon says and they're generally pretty accurate. But these Democrats know they need that vote or want to win that vote and so they are saying the things those people want to hear. And it brings us back to Holbeck's great book what's it Submission submission. Yeah. About the way radical Islam takes over Western democracies bit by bit, slowly, through elections and pressure on politicians.

[Jack Armstrong]

And submissiveness by people who watch it happen. Right. Not realizing how bad it's going to be if you missed a segment. Get our podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand. We do four hours every day.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an I heart podcast.